Small Church setting up from scratch

Hi Susie,

Setting up those account in the Chart of Accounts should be relatively easy and there is an area that lets you enter starting balances.  I would Google Church financial statements to get an idea of where other churches were putting that information.

Offerings and Missions are Revenue accounts.

Utility payments are expenses.

Grab all the free spreadsheets offered in the following site:

Basic Accounting Tips for Churches and Nonprofits (freechurchaccounting.com)

Reach out to me if you have any further questions.

Let me welcome you first to the Community, Susie.

I know how important it is for your company to set up the correct accounts. This guarantees that your financial records are accurate. Let me point you in the right direction on how to properly handle your concerns. 

The online program automatically customizes your chart of accounts based on the nature of your business when you first set up your company. Also, there are specific default accounts that are created for you (based on the industry type). For a detailed list, check out this article: Manage default and special accounts.

You can input the value in the Balance field to designate amounts to specific accounts. If there are any transactions associated with the categories, you'll no longer be able to enter the amount. Thus, let's create a journal entry to show the starting figure.

I also recommend consulting with your accountant for further guidance. They can advise you on how to handle your accounting concerns, including the category to utilize for your debit and credit.

In case the Tax form type is incorrect on the Account and Settings page, you'll have to edit it and choose the right one. Here's how:

1. In QuickBooks Online (QBO), head to the Gear icon and choose Account and settings. 
2. This action will open a page that shows the list of the company preferences. 
3. Head to the Company menu on the left panel and click the Pencil icon for Company type.
4. Click the Tax form drop-down and select the appropriate business type. For example, Nonprofit Organization (990).
5. Click Save and Done. 

For the accounts created by QBO, inactivate the ones that you'll no longer use. If you wish to set up new categories, head to the Chart of accounts page. 

Let me share these resources that tackle the importance of the chart of accounts as well as various account and detail types:

• Learn about the chart of accounts
• Learn about account types and detail types

You browse the links below to help you get started in using the online program:

• QuickBooks guide
• How to videos

Reach out to me again if you have additional concerns about adding accounts to the register and other product-related questions. I'll get back to help you the best that I can. 

Thank you so much for your reply.  I only need to set us up with minimal accounts as I'll be entering manually for the time being.

What I'm not understanding, as I'm just a volunteer trying to get us up and running, and not an accountant or bookkeeper by trade, is this:

Lets say I have an account titled Offerings and Tithes.  I want to set up sub accounts from that, such as our Boys and Girls Missions, Our regular missions, Sunday School, Worship Team, etc etc.  

If I create those above, and enter a beginning amount for each, will they then all total the amount listed in the Account titled Offerings and Tithes?

Hi there, Susie. I'd be glad to answer your question. 

Yes, when you enter transactions or amounts into the sub-accounts, they will be reflected in the parent account's total. So, if you enter amounts for each sub-account, the total of those amounts will be included in the balance of the "Offerings and Tithes" account.

See this screenshot below for your reference.

For further details about sub-accounts, you can check these articles:

• How to create a new parent account or subaccount
• About bank or credit card subaccount setup

You can also check this article for more information about fund accounting for non-profits: Fund Accounting for non-profits.

You can shoot me a reply if you have any other questions about setting up an account for your company.